Taliban searched for papers in closed Indian consulates at Kandahar, Herat

New Delhi, Aug 20: Following the takeover of Kabul, the Taliban visited the closed Indian consulates in Kandahar and Herat. They were apparently searching for papers, reports have said.

They also took away parked vehicles from both the embassies. The Taliban is also conducting door-to-door searches to identify Afghans who worked for the NDS, which is the state run intelligence agency. A Hindustan Times report said that the details of the Indian consulate in Jalalabad and the mission in Kabul are not available.

With Afghanistan falling to the Taliban, all eyes would be on the new ruler of the war torn nation. Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar who is the number two in the outfit is likely to head the government.

He is also in charge of the political wing of the outfit. Baradar arrived from Doha in Kandahar and he also took part in the press conference. Maulvi Haibatullah Akhundzada, the supreme leader of the Taliban was in contention to head the government. However this has been refuted and it is unlikely that he may take part in any governmental role.

Baradar who was designated under UNSC 1272 in 2001 is a co-founder of the Taliban. He was extremely close to Mullah Omar the first emir of the outfit. Baradar was detained by the ISI in 2010 and freed only in 2018 when the Donald Trump Administration decided to hold talks with the Taliban. He headed the delegation that negotiated with the US. It was during these talks that the US agreed to withdraw troops on the condition that the Taliban will not shelter terror groups such as the Al-Qaeda or the ISIS.

All eyes would also be on Mullah Yaqoob, the son of Mullah Omar who is the head of the Taliban Military Commission. He would be looking to take over power and the government from Kandahar. Incidentally this is the same place Omar was declared as the Emir ul Momeen or supreme leader in 1996.